Sawmill-carriage.



No. 675,249. Patented May 28, I901. B. E. SERGEANT.

SAWMILL CARRIAGE.

(Application filed. Mar. 16, 1901.

2 Shoots-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES: v5 1 -Q- 6144. I

eqjammESegeanfi BY A TTOHNE Y8 Patented May 28, I901.

B. E. SERGEANT.

SAWMILL CARRIAGE. (Application filed Mar. 16, 1901.

2 Sheets$haet 2.

(No Model.)

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

BENJAMIN EAVENS SERGEANT, OF GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA.

SAWMILL-CARRIAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0..675,24.9, dated May 28,1901.

Application filed March 16, 1901. Serial No. 51,428. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN EAVENS SER- GEAN'I, of Greensboro, in thecounty of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Sawmill-Carriages, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention is in the nature of certain improvements insawmill-carriages designed to hold the projecting end of the rack-barinto more positive and certain engagement with the subjacent pinionwhich drives it and to provide also a more convenient, stronger, andpractical construction of sectional log-beam for the carriage.

My invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a perspective view from the sawframe side. Fig. 2 is a sectionthrough line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modification.Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 4 a cross-section through thesplice-joint of the sectional log-beam, and Fig. 5 a detail underneathview of the spliceplate.

In sawmill-carriages which operate with the rack-and-pinion feed therack-bar usually extends some distance past the end of the log-beam andknees in order to permit the carriage to be projected sufficiently farpast the saw-frame to allow the log to be rolled onto the carriage. Whenthe carriage is in this position, the weight of the log is not overthepinion and the engagementof the rack with the pinion is not positive andcertain, because the rack and its wooden sill, which project beyond thecarriage proper, are liable to spring up slightly and allow the teeth ofthe pinion to slip under the teeth of the rack, damaging the teeth, forthe reason that there is no weight over the rack to hold it down ontothe pinion in safe and certain engagement therewith. A is suchprojecting portion of the rack and its carrying-sill which extend beyondthe log-carriage proper, (shown at 0,) and B is the driving-pinion on ashaft B, journaled in bearings in the saw-frame F. The position of thesaw is shown at S, and both this saw and the pinion are driven by boltsand gearing in the usual way, the pinion being provided withdifferential pulleys and reversing mechanism of any of the usual forms.When the log-carriage is in the position shown for loading the log ontothe carriage, it will be seen that the portion A of the rack and sillonly are resting on the pinion, and as the weight of the log at thistime is not above the pinion the free extension of the part A is liableto spring up, allowing a slipping between the cogs of the rack andpinion, with the possibility of breakage. To prevent this, I attachrigidly to the extended sill A of the log-carriage ahorizontally-projecting flange D, and on the adjacent side of thesaw-frame F, I rigidly fix another horizontally-arranged flange E, whichis adjusted sufficiently high to barely overhang the flange D, which isattached to and moves with the carriage. These flanges have their endsbeveled or rounded, the ends of the upper flange E being turned up andthose of the lower flange D turned down, so that they pass smoothly oneonto the other with a sliding contact without risk of butting endwiseagainst each other. These flanges may be made of iron of a right-anglecross-section whose vertical members are bolted to the wooden sills ofthe saw-frame and log-carriage, respectively. When the log-carriage isdrawn back to receive its log and the part A only of the carriage isresting on the driving-pinion, the flange D of the carriage is restingunder the stationary flange E of the saw-frame, and when the forwardfeed takes place the flange E holds down the flange D, and with it theextension A of the rack-bar and sill, so that the latter cannot rise andno separation between the teeth of the pinion and the rack can takeplace. The flanges D and E are made of sufficient length to remainengaged until the extension A has passed by the pinion and the log isbrought to a position above the pinion, at which time the Weight of thelog holds the rack and pinion sufficiently engaged.

In carrying out my invention I do not confine myself to two flangeshaving a sliding contact with each other, as one of the bearings may bemade in the form of rollers E, which secure the advantages of rollingfriction, as seen in Fig. 2.

In constructing log-carriages which are adapted to long lengths oftimber it has been the custom to make the log-beam in section.

This log-beam is a long stick of timber running the full length of thecarriage. It is necessary to make it in sections in order to load themonto cars and also to haul them in wagons and to facilitate the puttingof them down in installing the plant. The usual method of lapping,keying, and plating them is objectionable and troublesome, both inarranging for it at the shops and also in putting it down, and,moreover, the lap -joint of wood is objectionable, because the woodshrinks and the necessaryjarring of the carriage allows the joint tosoon become loose. In myinvention (see Figs. 3, at, and 5) I do not makea lap-joint in the wood, but the two sections (1 and O of the beam arevery closely matched at the ends and then butted endwise against eachother to form onlya straight joint in the wood at right angles to thelength of the beam. Such joint is preferred for the reason that it doesnot open from shrinkage, as wood does not shrink to any appreciableextent in endwise direction, whereas the lateral or sidewise shrinkageof wood is very great and allows the longitudinal joints of a lappedconstruction to open very much and to become loose. The two sections ofthe beam having been thus fitted together in alinement, I provide apattern-plate having laid off in it a series of holes corresponding inposition to a series of bosses on a metal splice-plate hereinafterdescribed and lay this pattern-plate equally on the two adjacent ends ofthe log-beam sections and mark the position of the holes on the beamends. I then, with a two-inch auger, bore holes at these points twoinches deep, which in diameter and depth correspond exactly to a seriesof bosses 1), formed on a metal splice-plate P. This plate is made ofheavy cast iron or steel and is formed with bolt-holes h, extendingthrough the bosses, and also with parallel side fiangesff, that lap overthe side edges of the log-beam and snugly fit the same. After thetwoinch holes in the log-beam are bored to the proper depth smallerconcentric bolt-holes are bored the balance of the way through the beamfrom the bottom of each larger hole. The plate P is then applied to theadjacent ends of the log-beam sections with its bosses entering andsnugly fitting the holes in the log-beam, which form sockets for thebosses, and bolts 0 are then extended through each hole, firmly clampingthe plate and the two ends of the log-beam together. \Vhen the nuts areturned up on the lower ends of the bolts, they are made to bear againsta flat splice-plate P. .Vith this construct-i011 the nesting of thelarge bosses in their corresponding sockets in the timber gives anextensive bearing, and the splice of the plates on top and bottom andthe flanges at the side prevent any bending of the logbeam at the joint.Furthermore,any lateral shrinkage of the timber causes it to bite morefirmly against the bosses and to hold the parts together with a sort ofself-tightening joint.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sawmill-carriage having a projecting rack portion which extendsbeyond the earriage proper provided with a bearing adapted, temporarilyand during the initial part of the advance to the saw, to take under astationary bearing and be thereby held down to intimate and positivecontact with the drivingpinion substantially as described.

2. A sawmill-carriage having on its rack portion which extends beyondthe carriage proper, a bearing, combined with a stationary saw-framehaving a corresponding overhanging bearing adapted to temporarily holddown the said rack portion to intimate and positive contact with thedriving-pinion substantially as described.

A sawmi1lcarriagc having on its rack portion which extends beyond thecarriage proper a horizontally-projecting and elongated flange, combinedwith the saw-frame having a corresponding flange arranged to overhangthe first-named flange and temporarily hold it and the said rack portiondown tointimate and positive contact with the driving-pinion asdescribed.

4. A sawmill-carriage having a wooden logbeam made in sections buttedend wise against each other and having a series of holes of twodiameters bored through the same, the larger diameter forming socketsand the smaller ones bolt-holes and a metal splice-plate having bossesfitting the larger sockets and bolts fastening the splice-plate to theends of the sections substantially as described.

5. A sawmill-carriage having awooden logbeam made in sections buttedendwise against each other and having a series of holes of two diametersbored through the same, the larger holes forming sockets and beingconcentric with the smaller holes for the bolts, a metal splice-platehaving parallel flanges at its sides, and a series of perforated bossesfitting in the sockets, and bolts pasing through said perforated bossesand the holes of the beam-sections substantially as shown and described.

BENJAMIN EA YENS Sll HG llAN'l.

Witnesses:

DAVID WHITE, F. H. NICHOLSON.

ICC

